Ranking St. Louis Blues Offseason Moves from Least to Most Impactful

Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

7. Chris Butler, D

27 years old, signed as UFA to one-year, $650K/$400K two-way contract

In a somewhat surprising move, the Blues got Butler, a St. Louis native who played in all 82 games last season for the Calgary Flames, to agree to a two-way contract and serve as their eighth defenseman, effectively replacing Carlo Colaiacovo. While Butler is saying that he doesn’t want to go to the AHL, as any competitive player would, the fact that he allowed for that flexibility in his contract is a real plus for the Blues, who had Colaiacovo occupying space on the NHL roster for most of last season despite the fact that he barely played over the season’s final half.

In all likelihood, Butler will go down to the minors to start off, but there’s a very good shot that he comes up and is part of the lineup at some point during the 2014-15 season. Getting a player like Butler who has played in 349 games to serve as a depth player for reasonable money was a major get by the team’s front office.